


lit up so bright for all to see

by WishingTree



Series: Cabin Shenanigans [4]
Category: Lumberjanes
Genre: Gen, don't get any hopes up, like really really slight Mally? really slight, so slight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 19:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5428535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal would never have called herself an ‘outdoorsy person’, and as much as she would still stand by that given all her new exposure to life-threatening situations, she wouldn't miss this for the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lit up so bright for all to see

**Author's Note:**

> Title from “Anchor” by Letters To Cleo;
> 
> Written before the mermaid arc, so just assume that they don't know about the mermaids in the lake yet.

“Hey, Molly,” Mal’s head poked up next to Molly’s bunk, a creaking sound indicating that she was using her own bottom bunk as a step stool.

“Hey,” Molly turned onto her side to face her and smiled, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

“I heard you moving around, you weren’t asleep yet.” Mal grinned cheekily, “Pondering the meaning of life again?”

“Hm? Oh no, just thinking.”

“Bit late to be getting all existential, isn’t it?”

Molly grinned, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. “On the contrary, I’ve found that this is the very best time to get existential.”

Mal laughed quietly, conscious of the others asleep in their bunks. “What are you doing awake then?” She reached out and poked Molly’s nose.

“Oh, y’know, just talking to this weirdo I sometimes call my best friend.”

Mal smiled softly at the blonde wrinkling her nose. “Night, Molly.”

Molly settled back onto her pillow, pulling her blankets up to her neck. “Night Mal.”

Mal moved to step down, but after a moment’s hesitation turned back to quickly press a kiss to Molly’s cheek. She grinned and dropped to the floor, disappearing from Molly’s view.

 

Mal stared at her friend with wide eyes, mouth hanging open. “April this might be the worst idea you’ve ever had.”

“I know right it’s gonna be _awesome_.”

Mal kept staring. “Not awesome. No. Not the right word for it.”

“Come _on_ Mal, this just might work! It’s early morning, we’ll be back in time for lunch!”

“You want us to wander defenselessly around the forest just to see if we’ll, and I quote, ‘stumble across anything _weird_ ’?” Mal used finger quotes to frame it.

“Well when you put it like that it doesn’t sound good at all,” April pouted. “How else do you expect to find anything? If something’s gonna show up in the forest, shouldn’t we know about it?” April put her hands on her hips. “I am not good at waiting, and if Rosie was right about other stuff popping up I think we should get a head start.”

Jo tapped her fingers along her jaw. “April does have a point about us always finding weird stuff when we aren’t looking for it.”

“So you want to go out there and actively _not_ look for anything, all in the hopes of finding something?”

“Exactly!”

Molly came up beside Mal and linked their hands together. “It’ll probably just end up being a nice walk in the woods.” Mal relaxed at the contact, ignoring the suggestive way April and Jo were raising their eyebrows at each other.

Hesitating a few more moments, she finally relented, slouching in a huff as Molly reached over to pat her head. “You’ll see,” Molly promised, “We’ll all be just fine.”

 

“Come on, come on!” Ripley bounced excitedly, causing the others clinging to the tree below her to shout in alarm.

“Hold on Ripley, we’re coming!”

“Hah,” Mal laughed hysterically, clinging tightly to the tree with both arms. “Yeah, hah hah. I love climbing ridiculously tall trees with absolutely zero security on the highly probable chance that I slip and plummet to my death.”

Above her, April twisted so Mal could see her face, red hair already full of twigs and leaves. “Hey, you’ll be okay! Just don’t think about it. And probably don’t look down.”

Just below her, Molly stretched her arm out, patting Mal comfortingly on her shin, the only part she could reach. “It’s okay, we just have to make it a little farther.”

Mal squeezed her eyes shut and blew out a breath, “Can somebody please explain to me why we’re doing this again?”

Jo stuck her head out from the branches below Molly, raising her voice so Mal could hear it. “We decided it’d be better to climb this tree up to reach that cliff overlook up there and make it back to camp before nightfall, rather than dealing with the forest after dark.”

Breathing deeply, Mal nodded to reassure herself. “Right, right. That was probably a good call.” The tree shook again as Ripley made the jump over to the grassy outcrop that would put them back on the path to camp, way ahead of the others. “Unless we all die before the sun goes down, of course.”

“You can make it Mal!” Molly urged her forward, and Mal tried to stop her hands from shaking as she reached for the next branch.

Above her, April climbed high enough to make the leap to where Ripley was sitting on the ground watching them. The tree shook again and Mal tensed, torn between pressing herself closer to the tree and keeping her face away from whatever might be living in the branches. “Why is Jen not here. Why do we always leave Jen? Jen probably would have figured out a way to avoid this situation. No, Jen wouldn’t have let us leave camp.”

Sticking her head out again, Jo said, “Nah, Jen would probably give us tips on how to improve our climbing style.” She looked between Mal and the cliff overlook critically, eying the distance. “I think if you go up maybe two more branches you should be good to jump.”

Mal huffed a breath and forced herself to relax. Taking another deep breath, she narrowed her eyes determinedly. She continued climbing, resolutely reminding herself that this situation wasn’t even that bad. “We’re awesome,” she told herself, “and this is easy. Simple. I can do it. I’ve done more dangerous stuff actually.” This was the way forward, with no way to climb back down as April and Ripley were already waiting on solid ground.

Just as she got high enough to drop down onto the grassy overlook, the tree cracked ominously and she met Molly’s startled eyes.

“Uh oh,” Molly said, freezing for a moment and then springing forward, scrambling higher with Jo right behind her, urgently grabbing at branches.

Mal pushed away from the tree immediately, forgetting her fear and safely hitting the ground. She turned back to Molly and Jo, hands already subconsciously outstretched with April and Ripley.

Molly turned and jumped, easily making the distance and landing hard in between them. Mal knelt down and instinctively grabbed her arm, steadying her and ready to help if they had to run. They both looked up to see Jo push off slightly less gracefully just as the tree started to tilt sideways. She just made it, her feet scrabbling for purchase along the edge and knocking some loose pebbles off.

Everyone lunged for her, various hands grasping at her jacket to bring her farther away from the edge. Stumbling over each other, they wound up in a heap lying on the ground, sprawled out on top of each other.

There was silence as they all caught their breath, and then one by one they slowly started to giggle, until they were just a hysterical mass rolling around on the forest floor. April was wiping legitimate tears away from her eyes as Jo lay flat on her back with Ripley jumping wildly around her.

Mal sat with her hands hanging between her knees, slouched over as she sighed. “Well, we almost died again.”

Molly got to her feet and stretched her arms out. “But we survived. We’re good, Mal.”

“Come on then.” They slowly untangled themselves, the rest of them pushing to their feet and pulling twigs out of their hair and clothes. Arm in arm, they all started walking back towards camp.

 

Mal examined the small stones around her feet, making sure not to wander too far from Jen and Ripley.

“Hey Jen, you want the flattest ones, right?” she called over her shoulder, kicking lightly at the ground to dislodge the stones. Hearing Jen’s affirmative answering shout, she gave her a thumbs up and turned back to examining the ground, noting Ripley’s adventures with the plants nearby.

Mal bent down to pick a few up, blowing on them to get rid of the dirt. She slipped them into her pockets as she moved steadily towards the lake, collecting more along the way. It was harder to find exposed ones nearer to the lakeshore, but Mal had no qualms about sticking her toes into the shallow water if the stone was near enough to the surface to nudge it towards land. She filled her pockets and her hands, picking only the smooth ones that should be easy enough to use for the painting the crafts room had in mind.

Letting her gaze skim the ground around her absently, she looked out on the water, smiling at the way the sun reflected off the surface of it. Her eyes were drawn to movement in the lake, and she squinted and leaned forward only to see a figure in the water staring back at her.

She let out a startled yelp and tripped over her feet, scattering the stones in her hands and landing on her butt. Blinking hard, she hastily scrambled to push herself up and away from the water, sending pebbles flying every which way.

She hit the grass just as Jen reached her. “What happened, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

With trembling hands, Mal slowly brushed herself off, leaning down to get the dirt off her legs as she kept her gaze locked on the figure in the water. Jen kept talking, and Mal swallowed, pushing herself shakily to her feet with Jen’s hands helping her up.

“I uh,” she cleared her throat, “I think I just found a mermaid?”

The figure in the water looked exactly like a normal girl dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, although they looked like they were made of some kind of aquatic plant. She was also completely underwater. Everything about her was a shade of green, her long hair floating around her face as she was watching them with wide eyes.

“What?” Jen tried to follow her line of sight.

Ripley’s head popped out of the tall grass a couple feet away. “Mermaids?” she called out eagerly.

Mal and Jen both saw the look in Ripley’s eyes as a maniacal smile stretched across her face. “Ripley, wait…!”

She ignored them completely as she scrambled over to them, keenly scanning the water. Jen deftly grabbed her around the waist as she shot past her, setting her firmly on her feet before pointing.

“Okay I can’t ever go swimming in the monster lake either.” Mal wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

“But Mal, what about if they’re nice mermaids?” Ripley cocked her head and sidestepped onto the dock to get a better view. The figure in the water mirrored her, tilting her head and staying still as Ripley edged forwards curiously.

“It’s a river spirit I think – a naiad or a water nymph?” Jen bent a little to get a better view, receiving a wave and hesitantly wiggling her fingers in return.

“Hey Ripley, not so close, huh?” Mal grabbed the collar of Ripley’s shirt in case she decided she wanted to swim with the fishes. Or the river spirits, as it were.

Ripley beamed over her shoulder, “I got it!” She patted Mal’s hand before slipping her grip to lay down on her stomach, wriggling closer to the edge so she could peer off the dock, her face level with the river spirit’s. “Hello,” Ripley said, waving. The river spirit waved both hands in return. Mal watched cautiously, hoping this wasn’t going to turn out to be some kind of giant trap.

Ripley’s head was now hanging off the edge, her arms dangling so her fingers could graze the surface of the water. Next to Mal, Jen shuffled her feet worriedly, but showed no other signs of alarm, instead watching to see what would happen.

They looked over at Ripley making funny faces and giggling, delighted when the river spirit mimicked them back at her and laughed underwater. At least Mal assumed it was laughter. It sounded like a cross between bubbling water and waves crashing, but the river spirit’s face was split in a wide grin, so it seemed like it was a laugh.

Beckoning at Ripley to pay attention, the river spirit cupped her hand in the water focused on it for a moment, before throwing it upwards. A giant tendril of water emerged out of the lake, forming a shimmering dolphin in midair that flew around before diving back to the surface of the lake and dissolving into simple water droplets.

Ripley gasped loudly and pushed herself up so she was sitting cross-legged on the edge, eyes wide with awe. The river spirit flicked her hand a couple more times, each flick creating a miniature stingray that flew through the air above her.

Slowly, Mal sat down next to Ripley, hesitantly returning the smile flashed at her by the river spirit. She held a hand out when one of the stingrays came close, and when it hovered over her fingertips she saw that it was entirely made of water.

Mal didn’t try to contain her surprised laugh, grinning at the girl in the water before looking up at Jen in wonder. Jen was standing behind Mal and Ripley on the dock, examining her own water stingray.

When the stingrays dissolved into glittering streams of water like the dolphin had, they all looked back at the river spirit. She looked thoughtful for a moment, before holding one finger out in a ‘wait one second’ gesture.

Backing away from the dock, the river spirit held her arms out like balancing on a tightrope. Quickly pulling them together, a rush of water was drawn towards her, mirroring the movement when she threw her arms up, making a glittering landscape above her head. Appearing as though it was a 2D screen, it showed different types of aquatic life swimming back and forth through the air in front of them. Mal spotted at least 3 types of whales, an octopus, and more fish than she could count. It was like looking at an aquarium that covered the whole ocean, and Mal didn’t think she could be more amazed.

Slowly the river spirit lowered her arms, and the screen fell with them, dissolving into mist that Mal could feel against her skin.

“That was SO AWESOME!!! How did you do that? Can you make anything out of water?” Ripley kept going on, but the river spirit only looked confused.

Tapping a finger to her ear, the river spirit slowly shook her head, smiling wistfully when Ripley realized she couldn’t hear her. At Ripley’s crestfallen expression, she held out her hand and waved it again, distracting her by creating a water butterfly to loop around her head, fluttering in front of Ripley’s face.

Mal nodded her head enthusiastically, clapping her hands as Ripley cheered beside her, head following the path of the butterfly as it circled the air in front of them. The river spirit beamed up at them, taking another bow below the surface of the water.

When she looked up again, smiling earnestly, Mal thought for a moment and found herself moving her hand to her chin, signing a _Thank you_ on the offhand chance that it would be understood.

The river spirit’s eyes widened and made the delighted laughing sound again, and Mal hesitantly perked up at the prospect of a better means of communication. Clumsily, she signed _That was beautiful_ , hoping she had gotten it right.

 _Thank you_ , the river spirit signed back, _It was my pleasure_.

 _My name is M-A-L_ , Mal fingerspelled it out slowly, _and this is R-I-P-L-E-Y and J-E-N. Do you have a name we can call you?_

“Is that sign language?” Ripley leaned over and whispered. Mal nodded, brow furrowed as she tried to concentrate on the river spirit’s answer, her fingers moving much more quickly and naturally than Mal’s could.

When the river spirit’s hands stopped moving, Mal bit her lip, looking at her apologetically. _I’m sorry, I am …_ Mal closed her eyes but couldn’t remember the sign for ‘confused’. _I am lost. Could you please repeat?_

 _I am called M-U-I-R-G-E-L, river spirit from the_ – but the hand symbols that followed Mal had no understanding of. Seeing her blank look, Muirgel fingerspelled them out more slowly and looked up hopefully, but Mal only shook her head regretfully.

_The humans may have given it the name L-O-C-H N-A-S-S?_

Mal’s eyes widened. _L-O-C-H N-E-S-S?_

When Muirgel smiled and pointed earnestly to show that was right, Mal’s face split into a grin. “Seriously?” she said, part disbelief. She turned to Jen and Ripley, the latter of which was practically in her lap, gripping her arm out of eagerness to find out what her new friend had been saying. “Her name’s Muirgel,” Mal tripped over the pronunciation, unsure how to say it, “She’s from Loch Ness. Like in Scotland!”

“Cool,” Ripley breathed, looking back into the water.

“How did she get here?” Jen asked.

Mal turned back to ask, carefully concentrating on the response. “She says… something called her here,” Mal spoke slowly. “She came to this lake to check it out – I think river spirits can teleport, it seems like – and saw us on the shore. Oh wait,” Mal stopped, seeing Muirgel turning away from her like she was listening to something in the water. After a moment, she turned back, bowing her head apologetically.

 _I have to return now_ , she signed ruefully, giving Ripley and Jen another wave. _It was a pleasure talking to you, M-A-L. Would you mind telling your friends I am glad to have met them?_

 _Of course! I’m glad we met you too._ “She says she has to go now.” Mal told Ripley and Jen, nodding sympathetically and putting a hand on her shoulder when Ripley whined in disappointment. Muirgel was already backing away, making no effort to propel herself through the water. All three of them waved goodbye, watching as she disappeared deeper into the lake.

“She was nice,” Ripley said as she looked at the once again calm surface of the lake. “Do you think she’ll come back and visit?” Mal shrugged helplessly, and they both looked up at Jen for her answer.

Jen had her arms crossed, her chin resting in her palm and her eyes not focused on anything. She blinked when Ripley tapped her knee to get her attention. “What’s wrong, Jen?”

Jen blinked a few more times, before distantly answering, “I could have asked her about the Loch Ness Monster,” she looked down at them with a distraught expression on her face.

Ripley and Mal both giggled, and a smile tugged at Jen’s lips. “Okay guys,” she sighed at her lost opportunity. “We should go back. We were supposed to be helping the crafts room, remember?”

They got to their feet, Ripley bouncing ahead. “Let’s go tell April and Jo and Molly about Muirgel! They’re going to be really sorry they missed the magic.”

 

“Alright everybody,” Jen started halfheartedly, wiping at the sweat collecting on her forehead, “Up and at ‘em.” She forced herself to stand up straighter and Mal squinted at her through the bright sunlight shining in her eyes.

Nobody moved from their spots on the ground.

“Jen, it’s too hot for this,” Ripley whined, splayed out on her back.

“Let’s just stay here today.” Mal’s eyes brightened momentarily as the brilliant idea left Molly’s mouth, knowing without a doubt that that was the best idea anyone had ever had. But the oppressive humidity soon quashed that too, reminding her that the soul-crushing heat was in fact real and not some cruel prank that was going to disappearing any time soon.

“Yeah, it’s great. Look, we called dibs on this really nice tree and everything.” April lifted her hand and clumsily patted the tree twice before dropping it limply back to the grass.

Jen protested, more out of habit than anything else, “But, the schedule, we’ll probably miss –”

“Jen, it’s okay,” Jo waved her arm half-heartedly, using her other hand to wipe some sweat off her forehead.

Mal moaned, “Yeah, I don’t think you want to go hiking around these woods any more than we do.”

“We saved you a spot in the shade,” Molly offered, blinking slowly from behind the hair she wasn’t willing to push back.

Predictably, Jen gave in, flopping down next to them and sloppily pulling her hair back in a loose ponytail. “Okay, we’ll catch up on the schedule later then,” she said, not sounding all that regretful.

“Yeah, let’s do that. But like first let’s just take a little nap.” Sighing deeply, April let her head fall to the side.

“We can figure the rest out later.”


End file.
